International Assignment Mentor Program Benefits
Designing an effective mentor program in the home country for employees returning from an international assignment can greatly benefit employee retention.
Aiding The Competition
Sometimes, the “larger cost” of an employee’s international assignment may only be felt when they resign from the company after repatriation due to feelings of being unappreciated or underutilized.
Consider “Gustavo”, who completed an exciting two-year assignment in Latin America. Upon repatriation to his home country, he was relegated back to the same position he held before leaving. His managers didn’t know how to use his new skills and envious colleagues teased that his assignment looked more like a paid vacation.
He felt like his new professional growth and knowledge from the assignment counted for nothing, so he accepted a position with a competitor that valued it. Now, his old company competes against Gustavo daily - having paid for him to gain the valuable international experience.
“The employee sees the assignment as a passport to promotion,” writes Benjamin Bader, co-author on a repatriation study, “but the employer wants someone to get the job done and is not making any promises.”
Sadly, Gutavo’s situation above is not an exception: according to a report by Deloitte, 71 percent of employees who leave a company within two years of an international assignment think their leadership skills were not being fully appreciated.
Mentorships Make an Impact
What can be done to reduce such unfortunate and costly post-assignment situations? Best practice assignment repatriation strategies to retain talent can include:
- Planning and discussing expectations of post-assignment career possibilities.
- Helping counter reverse culture shock, boredom, and re-adjustment difficulties.
- Maintaining strong, regular communication to remain connected to the corporate office/team while on assignment.
- Requiring home leave visits to the home country office to stay connected and consider post-assignment roles, rather than unrestricted home leave benefits to any location.
- Conducting assignee career planning at least eight-to-ten months before their repatriation.
A missing, often overlooked option towards maximizing one’s Return on Investment is a low cost / high value international assignment mentor program that can improve the likelihood of repatriating employees hitting the ground running after repatriation and staying with a company long term.
Consider these remarkable corporate mentor program statistics:
- Ninety percent of workers who have a mentor report being happy in their job and 71 percent of people with a mentor say their company provides them with good opportunities to advance in their career, per a CNBC/Survey Monkey report.
- Employees who are involved in mentoring programs have a 50 percent higher retention rate than those not involved, per MentorcliQ.
- Millennials intending to stay with their organization for more than 5 years are twice as likely to have a mentor than not (68% vs 32%), according to a Deloitte survey.
- Since the pandemic, there has been a 30 percent increase in mentoring initiatives at organizations, according to talent solutions provider LHH.
- 89 percent of those who have been mentored will also go on to mentor others, according to the firm McCarthy Mentoring.
After all, having someone who has been through an assignment and repatriation – and knows the inner workings of the organization can prove invaluable.
A Structure for Success
It is critical to get employees on assignment thinking about “post-assignment life” well in advance of repatriation.
It has repeatedly been shown how important it is for employers to recognize and validate returning assignees' new “international identity” by giving them opportunities to use their skills learned on assignment for their employer.
Home country mentors can add a personal touch -- based on their own, previous repatriation experience and going through a similar transition. Consider the following steps to develop a program by starting small and building up the programs over time:
1: Define objectives.
Make program goals realistic so they are obtainable. If there’s too much formality, the mentor programs risks being seen as the company pushing a “feel-good directive” and it might turn people off from participating if it’s seen as more work with no direct benefit.
2: Keep it simple.
A successful home country mentor program could start with a small pilot program that includes a handful of employees going on assignment and mentors who have been through the process. Programs that take a proper amount time to gather the appropriate volunteers and budget, while piloting a small-scale effort, will succeed more often before engaging in company-wide home country mentor program.
3: Identify and pair mentor cadres.
Finding willing mentors may prove a challenge. Opinions diverge on the best approach to forming each mentor-employee connection. Some firms use an application and interview process while others let employees on assignment choose from a pool of approved mentor names. A good mentor is like a good coach who asks the mentee probing questions based on their repatriation experience to help them transition back and discuss potential expectations, challenges, and opportunities.
4: Choose desired training approaches.
Formal, informal or hybrid training? No matter the approach selected, a mentee should be asked up front what they want to get out of such a mentorship program.
5: Setting clear and realistic expectations.
Setting clear expectations upfront in writing and counseling each assigned mentor-employee pair about your company’s vision for the program is key, as is the program’s expected timeline, personal boundaries, and the need for confidentiality between parties. HR should make clear to all involved that the mentor’s role is not to help secure the repatriating employee a new position or advocate for them before they return. Ultimately, that is commonly the employee’s responsibility at most companies today.
6: C-suite buy in for the program.
Finally, having buy in for an assignee mentor program initiative from one’s C-suite on down the chain of command is imperative. As noted in Success Magazine: “If you start a mentorship program that does not involve the C-suite, it will fail. Senior management should be heavily involved in setting guidelines, actions and goals for the program.”
Executives can also host quarterly, small group virtual sessions with company employees on assignment “so protégés can benefit from their wisdom and insight – without the tinge of favoritism that could otherwise arise” if they were to act as direct mentors themselves.
Challenges and Opportunities
One may think people would embrace the opportunity to become a mentor to others, but there are challenges to consider for attracting mentor candidates. These can include time, interest, and motivation:
- Time: In an already time-starved business environment, who has the time to oversee this program is one consideration, but even the most motivated mentors may defer from participating if they’re already too busy and it’s not part of their core objectives.
- Interest: The best mentors are those who have volunteered (not “voluntold”), who get satisfaction from helping colleagues, and who have themselves also had international assignment experience. According to Jan Rose of Capital H Group, in Chief Learning Officer magazine: “People lose interest…People lose track of what the program is supposed to do…Mentoring program failure might occur because the program’s goals are either fuzzy or they’re all over the place.”
- Motivation: If a corporate culture is ultra-competitive internally or there may be concerns about future downsizings, mentors may not want to coach their fresh-off-an-assignment colleagues.
For employees who have concerns over the above attributes, but the right past experience to help an assignee, there are additional perks mentors experience beyond helping a colleague.
It is found that employees who mentor typically raise their visibility within the organization and expand their personal network of contacts and mentors are 6 times more likely to be promoted, according to stats compiled by the Human Resources department of Sun Microsystems, writes Anne Fisher of Fortune Magazine.
Mentorships today also don’t need to be down the hall, in the same building or even the same country. Mentoring can be done via phone, Zoom, FaceTime, Teams, or email.
Finally, “Tapping into a mentor’s knowledge doesn’t have to be a person who is older. We live in an era that, in a few years, over 50 percent of Americans will have a boss who is younger than them,” says author Chip Conley.
Better Than Finding Qualified Replacements
Ideally, the importance of “life after repatriation” would be discussed with the employee at the same time they accepted the assignment and, six months prior to returning. The company would distribute the employee’s information to divisions and company hiring managers with open positions that would complement the employee’s experience.
Combined with this approach, mentor programs are highly effective to make employees feel supported before, during and after assignments. Though they seem easy on paper, internal planning and oversight for ongoing success and sustainability is key. It is a low-cost effort that can differ greatly by organization, but mentorship programs can make a lasting, positive impact on employee satisfaction, retention, and company ROI.
For more information, please contact your NEI representative.
International Assignment Mentor Program Benefits
Designing an effective mentor program in the home country for employees returning from an international assignment can greatly benefit employee retention.
Aiding The Competition
Sometimes, the “larger cost” of an employee’s international assignment may only be felt when they resign from the company after repatriation due to feelings of being unappreciated or underutilized.
Consider “Gustavo”, who completed an exciting two-year assignment in Latin America. Upon repatriation to his home country, he was relegated back to the same position he held before leaving. His managers didn’t know how to use his new skills and envious colleagues teased that his assignment looked more like a paid vacation.
He felt like his new professional growth and knowledge from the assignment counted for nothing, so he accepted a position with a competitor that valued it. Now, his old company competes against Gustavo daily - having paid for him to gain the valuable international experience.
“The employee sees the assignment as a passport to promotion,” writes Benjamin Bader, co-author on a repatriation study, “but the employer wants someone to get the job done and is not making any promises.”
Sadly, Gutavo’s situation above is not an exception: according to a report by Deloitte, 71 percent of employees who leave a company within two years of an international assignment think their leadership skills were not being fully appreciated.
Mentorships Make an Impact
What can be done to reduce such unfortunate and costly post-assignment situations? Best practice assignment repatriation strategies to retain talent can include:
- Planning and discussing expectations of post-assignment career possibilities.
- Helping counter reverse culture shock, boredom, and re-adjustment difficulties.
- Maintaining strong, regular communication to remain connected to the corporate office/team while on assignment.
- Requiring home leave visits to the home country office to stay connected and consider post-assignment roles, rather than unrestricted home leave benefits to any location.
- Conducting assignee career planning at least eight-to-ten months before their repatriation.
A missing, often overlooked option towards maximizing one’s Return on Investment is a low cost / high value international assignment mentor program that can improve the likelihood of repatriating employees hitting the ground running after repatriation and staying with a company long term.
Consider these remarkable corporate mentor program statistics:
- Ninety percent of workers who have a mentor report being happy in their job and 71 percent of people with a mentor say their company provides them with good opportunities to advance in their career, per a CNBC/Survey Monkey report.
- Employees who are involved in mentoring programs have a 50 percent higher retention rate than those not involved, per MentorcliQ.
- Millennials intending to stay with their organization for more than 5 years are twice as likely to have a mentor than not (68% vs 32%), according to a Deloitte survey.
- Since the pandemic, there has been a 30 percent increase in mentoring initiatives at organizations, according to talent solutions provider LHH.
- 89 percent of those who have been mentored will also go on to mentor others, according to the firm McCarthy Mentoring.
After all, having someone who has been through an assignment and repatriation – and knows the inner workings of the organization can prove invaluable.
A Structure for Success
It is critical to get employees on assignment thinking about “post-assignment life” well in advance of repatriation.
It has repeatedly been shown how important it is for employers to recognize and validate returning assignees' new “international identity” by giving them opportunities to use their skills learned on assignment for their employer.
Home country mentors can add a personal touch -- based on their own, previous repatriation experience and going through a similar transition. Consider the following steps to develop a program by starting small and building up the programs over time:
1: Define objectives.
Make program goals realistic so they are obtainable. If there’s too much formality, the mentor programs risks being seen as the company pushing a “feel-good directive” and it might turn people off from participating if it’s seen as more work with no direct benefit.
2: Keep it simple.
A successful home country mentor program could start with a small pilot program that includes a handful of employees going on assignment and mentors who have been through the process. Programs that take a proper amount time to gather the appropriate volunteers and budget, while piloting a small-scale effort, will succeed more often before engaging in company-wide home country mentor program.
3: Identify and pair mentor cadres.
Finding willing mentors may prove a challenge. Opinions diverge on the best approach to forming each mentor-employee connection. Some firms use an application and interview process while others let employees on assignment choose from a pool of approved mentor names. A good mentor is like a good coach who asks the mentee probing questions based on their repatriation experience to help them transition back and discuss potential expectations, challenges, and opportunities.
4: Choose desired training approaches.
Formal, informal or hybrid training? No matter the approach selected, a mentee should be asked up front what they want to get out of such a mentorship program.
5: Setting clear and realistic expectations.
Setting clear expectations upfront in writing and counseling each assigned mentor-employee pair about your company’s vision for the program is key, as is the program’s expected timeline, personal boundaries, and the need for confidentiality between parties. HR should make clear to all involved that the mentor’s role is not to help secure the repatriating employee a new position or advocate for them before they return. Ultimately, that is commonly the employee’s responsibility at most companies today.
6: C-suite buy in for the program.
Finally, having buy in for an assignee mentor program initiative from one’s C-suite on down the chain of command is imperative. As noted in Success Magazine: “If you start a mentorship program that does not involve the C-suite, it will fail. Senior management should be heavily involved in setting guidelines, actions and goals for the program.”
Executives can also host quarterly, small group virtual sessions with company employees on assignment “so protégés can benefit from their wisdom and insight – without the tinge of favoritism that could otherwise arise” if they were to act as direct mentors themselves.
Challenges and Opportunities
One may think people would embrace the opportunity to become a mentor to others, but there are challenges to consider for attracting mentor candidates. These can include time, interest, and motivation:
- Time: In an already time-starved business environment, who has the time to oversee this program is one consideration, but even the most motivated mentors may defer from participating if they’re already too busy and it’s not part of their core objectives.
- Interest: The best mentors are those who have volunteered (not “voluntold”), who get satisfaction from helping colleagues, and who have themselves also had international assignment experience. According to Jan Rose of Capital H Group, in Chief Learning Officer magazine: “People lose interest…People lose track of what the program is supposed to do…Mentoring program failure might occur because the program’s goals are either fuzzy or they’re all over the place.”
- Motivation: If a corporate culture is ultra-competitive internally or there may be concerns about future downsizings, mentors may not want to coach their fresh-off-an-assignment colleagues.
For employees who have concerns over the above attributes, but the right past experience to help an assignee, there are additional perks mentors experience beyond helping a colleague.
It is found that employees who mentor typically raise their visibility within the organization and expand their personal network of contacts and mentors are 6 times more likely to be promoted, according to stats compiled by the Human Resources department of Sun Microsystems, writes Anne Fisher of Fortune Magazine.
Mentorships today also don’t need to be down the hall, in the same building or even the same country. Mentoring can be done via phone, Zoom, FaceTime, Teams, or email.
Finally, “Tapping into a mentor’s knowledge doesn’t have to be a person who is older. We live in an era that, in a few years, over 50 percent of Americans will have a boss who is younger than them,” says author Chip Conley.
Better Than Finding Qualified Replacements
Ideally, the importance of “life after repatriation” would be discussed with the employee at the same time they accepted the assignment and, six months prior to returning. The company would distribute the employee’s information to divisions and company hiring managers with open positions that would complement the employee’s experience.
Combined with this approach, mentor programs are highly effective to make employees feel supported before, during and after assignments. Though they seem easy on paper, internal planning and oversight for ongoing success and sustainability is key. It is a low-cost effort that can differ greatly by organization, but mentorship programs can make a lasting, positive impact on employee satisfaction, retention, and company ROI.
For more information, please contact your NEI representative.
